Hakuyami
Hakuyami-Okami, also known as Hakuyami-no-Mikoto or simply as Hakuyami, is a god in Kamuyir-Shintoism, the primary religion of Ezo. He is one of the Okami (great gods), the nine most important gods in Kamuyir-Shinto, and may be regarded the chief of the gods, although no such thing officially exists in this religion. He is the mightiest and most powerful of the gods, and thus the god of heavenly might. He is also known as the King of Twilight, as he is neither good (light), nor bad (darkness), and has his own Twilight Realm within the spirit realm, where his underlings roam, and many strange things happen. Appearance Hakuyami is typically depicted wearing a heavy god's armor, mostly colored black and very dark purple, and featuring massive shoulder pads, a mask of a faceless spirit on each upper arm, and a broad collar resting on his shoulders. From his belt, which features a demon's face, a skirt-like cloth suspended from it, much like in the Ezoan Sebiro, but with much more layers, and made of purple silk. He wears elaborate kyahan as well. Red luminous sigils are present here and there: an eye of twilight on each lower arm, as well as one on his pectoral armor, and a simple version on the pad before his crotch. From this pad, a longer piece is suspended, featuring a luminous pattern, a similar pattern being featured on his belt. The most striking sigil is the Mirror of Hakuyami pattern on his belly, supposedly simbolising the centre of his power in his hara (centre of energy of the body, in the lower abdomen). Hakuyami is often portrayed with a heavy purple cape, suspended from his shoulder pads, and his head may be portrayed in various fashions. The most rare one is to portray him showing his face, a dark and wild face with wild hair, and shadow tattoos all over it. Another way is to portray him wearing only his inner mask, which is a silvery metal mask covering his head and neck in their entirity. This mask has an emotionless and rather serene face, features hair-like patterns, as though combed backwards, as well as shadow tattoo patterns. The third way is to depict him wearing his crown, which is a headpiece again covering his entire head, but much bigger. It has the shape of a wolf's head sticking out his tongue, with his eyes closed and one eye of twilight on his forehead. He is not often depicted with attributes, but more often taking a certain action, most frequently destroying stuff. Also, as he represents twilight or dusk, he is often portrayed with Amaterasu, who represents day, and Tsukiyomi, who represents night, giving him an obscene kiss, with Amaterasu to the left (from the viewer's point of view) and Tsukiyomi to his right. Creational myth According to myth, after Izanagi and Izanami had created Japan, Izanami was engulfed in flames when she created the god of fire, Kagutsuchi. She went to the Yomi (underworld), and Izanagi went there too to get her back. However, she was already bound to the Yomi, and Izanagi went back to heaven. There, he cleansed his eyes from the terrible things he had seen in the Yomi, and from the water with which he had cleansed his left eye came Amaterasu, and from his right eye came Tsukuyomi. As they where born, they shone bright, Amaterasu with the light of the sun, and Tsukuyomi with the light of the moon, and thus, a mixture of these lights was created in between them. From this combined light, which was the twilight, Hakuyami was created, as well as many twilight spirits across the border between sunlight and moonlight. Hakuyami saw it as his task to retrieve these spirits from around the land that Izanagi had created, and so he set off at his journey. When he came back, he learned about the fight Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi had had, and about the fact that they had to roam the heaven apart from eachother for eternity. Thus he figured that, as both of them did not rule heaven anymore, he would be fit to do so. He created from twilight a celestial palace, housing all the spirits he had collected, and decorated it with gold made from sunlight, and with silver made from moonlight. However, of which he had not thought, was the fact that the sunlight, moonlight and twilight were constantly shifting location. His palace could not endure this constant change of light, and it collapsed, falling from the heaven into the sea, north of the land Izanagi had created, creating what is now Ezo. He went there, and was so enraged by the event, that with his anger he produced destruction in its purest form from his bare hands, his eyes and his mouth, blowing a deep hole in his recently created land, which became a gateway to his new realm, where there was perpetual twilight. This violent explosion had caused a massive earthquake, giving birth to countless volcanoes, spewing out molten iron, resulting in a year-long storm of iron snowflakes. In his new realm, he built a new palace, put some of his fellow spirits which he had found in his close vicinity in it, and went in search of the other twilight spirits once more, as they had been scattered over Ezo. However, in his search, he learned that the spirits, due to constant exposure to sunlight and moonlight, had been adapting to life on earth. He figured that, as the spirits could not life in the twilight realm anymore, but life in their current state was also very hurtful and confusing, that they needed earthly vessels to live in. He commanded Izanagi to make more humans as he had done before. And so Izanagi did, and he gave them to Hakuyami. Hakuyami went around Ezo for a second time, and this time, he bequeathed every man of Izanagi with a twilight spirit. Thus the Ezoan was created, humans made by Izanagi with souls made of sunlight, moonlight and twilight. As he would not be able to rule them in this earthly land, he decided that one man would be their ruler, a man who had been bestowed with a part of Hakuyami's spirit himself, namely his heart, covered in gold and silver for protection. This made Hakuyami heartless, turning him into the cold, careless ruler of the twilight realm. He decorated this ruler with iron snowflakes he took from the sky. Logically, this would later become the ancestor of the Yukida dynasty, as they are the rulers of Ezo today, and their crest is called the Iron Snowflake. Abilities Hakuyami posesses great power, and practices a magic made of twilight. This magic is mainly focused on destruction, but can also have other effects. Most often, this magic is paired with red sigils in the air, like the aforementioned Mirror of Hakuyami, or Eyes of Twilight. Hakuyami is able of creating a small black orb of concentrated destruction, which can be controlled with sigils. When the sigils break for some reason, be it on impact or by passing of time, the ball breaks its boundaries and bestows destruction upon everything near it. Another example of his magic is placing a Mirror on a surface, like a wall. This is not an actual mirror but only the sigil named after it. This mark will then burn into the surface, and instantly destroy it with a turn of the god's hand. Hakuyami is able to conjure objects, like weapons, from mere twilight, most often a sword, with which he may choose to duel a certain person. However, when he deems that person unworthy of his attention, he might decide to do it the fast way, which is firing a wide beam of dark light, as always paired with lots of sigils, as well as a marvellously loud and deep noice, which instantly rips the soul out of anyone standing in it. For mass destruction, he can blow a fog of very small black powder grains, that fills the space he is standing in. This is then followed by a spark from his hand, which ignites the black powder, setting the neighborhood ablaze. Hakuyami's power is close to limitless, and is sometimes uncontrollable. For instance, when he got mad on his new land and unleashed the giant earthquake that created his new realm. Worshipping Worshipping Hakuyami incorporates many unique features. In most Ezoan shrines, there is a separate Hakuyami sanctuary. In a rather big shrine, this would be a cloistered quarter, entered through a gate called the Yamimon, which has two twilight guardians, called Ashura, with three faces and four arms, carrying swords, a small treasure tower and a handbell. The quarter is often adorned with strang black toro lanterns, with eyes of twilight and other sigils, which serve as a type of watchtowers. The path to the main hall is entered through a circular gate suspended from two vertical poles, with lots of paper talismans and the like. After walking through this gate, one can enter the Yamido, the main hall. This hall contains the main object of worshipping, a big Mirror of Hakuyami sculpted in an obsidian wall, as obsidian is considered the strongest magic-conducting material in Hakuyami worshipping. Also in the hall are several singing bowls, decorated with the typical twilight style sleeping eyes, representing the serenity of twilight, as well as censers, burning a special type of incense containing a small amount of opium, which is one of the most important materials in Hakuyami customs. This results in the fact that many opium poppies can be seen in the sanctuary quarter, and sometimes also a small facility that produces the opium for religious purposes. Rituals for Hakuyami incorporate burning the opium incense, ringing the singing bowls, chanting Yukar-itak mantra's (sometimes) through a didgeridoo-like drone pipe, and offering various objects to the god.